Alexandra Dewis

Alexandra Dewis

International Graduate - Standard Chartered Bank

  • London, GB

I am currently working at Standard Chartered Bank on the International Graduate Programme after completing my Mathematics degree at the University of York. I have always had an interest in Banking and Finance, but not knowing which area I wanted to work in lead me to start my career in Internal Audit. Working in this division has allowed me to gain knowledge of how many different areas of the bank work as well as travelling to numerous countries and meeting hundreds of different people - what more could you ask for!

25 Followers 21 Following 7 Organizations 15 Topics
Most recent
  • Alexandra Dewis Alexandra Dewis commented on
    WORKing for YOUth - Challenge One: Team Tower Hamlets Coll

    WORKing for YOUth - Challenge One: Team Tower Hamlets Coll Sabina Aqtar

    Hi Sabina - welcome to WORKing for YOUth and in particular thank you for participating in our first challenge as part of Team Tower Hamlets Coll. The person who will be leading your team is Alexandra Dewis http://www.bravenewtalent.com/talent/228256/alexandra-dewis I am sure she will introduce herself over the next few days.

    Good Luck
  • Alexandra Dewis Alexandra Dewis commented on
    MELBIN PHILIP

    MELBIN PHILIP Alexandra Dewis

    Hi Alexandra , would you be able to give me some advice if I send you my CV . I would like to build my career to the maximum potential .

    many thanks
    PHILIP

    • PHILIP CV

    Show previous 3 comments
    • Alexandra Dewis
      Alexandra Dewis
      Yes, of course - im happy to help! Please send me your CV and I will take a look at it.
    • MELBIN PHILIP
      MELBIN PHILIP
      Its already here know can's you see my CV??
    • MELBIN PHILIP
      MELBIN PHILIP
      or do i need to send to your mail id instead?

  • Ife Abraham Igunnubole Alexandra Dewis

    Hi Alexandra, I've just been referred to you by Aziz Mahdi as your mentee. Exciting! I look forward to connecting. What are the next steps?

    Best regards. Ife
    • Alexandra Dewis Alexandra Dewis liked
      Adam Swash

      Adam Swash

      Leaderboard positions - wow, how to unleash my natural competitiveness... need to be 1st in a few more areas ;-)
      Show previous 4 comments
      • Gordon Murray Dent
        Gordon Murray Dent
        If you had put this in a topic then the likes that you received would have given you points!
      • Peter Johnson
        Peter Johnson
        Go on Gordon, spill the beans, what's the ranking algorithm?
      • Adam Swash
        Adam Swash
        Yep - do tell...
      • Gordon Murray Dent
        Gordon Murray Dent
        We are currently AB testing 3 variations of linear ranking algorithms across topics. So, I cannot indefinitely tell you the points you receive for each action you perform. I can tell you though that all these algorithms apply a positive constant weight to each of the following actions: a post made, a comment made, a comment received on a post you made, a like made, a like received on a post you made.
    • Alexandra Dewis Alexandra Dewis commented on
      Samuel Gordon

      Samuel Gordon First Year In about Advice, Culture Shifts, Generation Y, Graduates

      I've been thinking recently about "Living to Work" versus "Working to Live". In the early years of your career, people used to accept that you'd be "living to work" - should today's graduates still expect or accept that?
      Show previous 9 comments
      • Alexandra Dewis
        Alexandra Dewis
        Interesting question! Having recently started my career, I expected that I would be "living to work" for the first few months! Although I have found this to be true at times, companies are increasingly putting emphasis on a healthy work-life balance.
      • Helen Martin
        Helen Martin
        I have to say - my career in my twenties I enjoyed so much that I think I fell into the live to work... I was quite ambitious and worked with some great people who also worked hard. I expected that of myself but I wouldn't necessarily expect others to think the same or accept it. It's a good question though of which I am off to ask some friends now...!

      • Rebecca Fay
        Rebecca Fay
        Life is far too short to work to live...obviously not every day is going to be perfect, but I think for me, today's graduates can still expect to be able to live to work....it might not be their first role, but changing one's mind to find a career that genuinely excites I think is to be encouraged.
      • WORKing for YOUth
        WORKing for YOUth
        This is interesting - I think there are 2 contrasting trends going on. Firstly I think Gen Y are being far stricter on what work/ life balance they are prepared to accept. Secondly, and contrasting with this is the blurring between work/ life in many cases now - social media is a prime example - people are never really not working despite the fact they may not be 'at work' -- this is leading to the rise of the 'personal brand' over the 'corporate brand' and is exciting to think where this is goi… Read moreng to lead.
      • First Year In
        First Year In
        hm, interesting thoughts - so maybe it comes back to the idea of what individual graduates want out of their early career? What would be some good pieces of advice?
      • Diana Constantinescu
        Diana Constantinescu
        I would agree with Alexandra and Helen - there is some time during the twenties when we would focus on work more - we have energy, we have aspirations, we want to build our lives and we need bricks! But it's also normal for our strategies to change over time, and later we might wish to focus on other things.
      • Jeanri Bruwer
        Jeanri Bruwer
        As a fairly recent grad, 2010, I want to think it is very much "working to live" in my opinion. I think it is trying to juggle a good work/life relationship as most want to climb up the ladder, however, they also don't want to miss out on a social life. I believe that grads these days should still expect "living to work" to be the case, but its an individual's choice whether or not they accept that.
      • Chris Martin
        Chris Martin
        I think that living to work is an important mindset... To put this into context, sure we should have outside interests whether they be family or hobbies, but we spend most of our weeks "working", and that "work" should be something we find inspirational, motivating, challenging and rewarding. As we will be living longer, and need to "work" for more years to support our non-working years, we may need to find new careers or opportunities that stimulate us in our later years as much as when we sta… Read morerted out as fresh new grads. Living to work means we have a passion for our work. It does not have to mean we become anti-social, obsessed and work ourselves to burnout and then die....
      • Irina Elyzabeth
        Irina Elyzabeth
        I completely agree with you Chris. For me whenever I'm really passionate about my work I don't even feel it like "work" anymore. And that's a problem too because the ones around me don't feel what I feel, they just see that I'm working a lot and they might think at one point that I'm workaholic. I think you are workaholic when you work too much irrespective of how much you like it. Or not?...
      • Maja Obucina
        Maja Obucina
        Reading this great and fascinating topic, I wonder if the question underneath all questions here is "Where are the powers of influence?"?
        In my experience businesses hire likeminded people. After all we spend most of our awake hours with our co-workers so good recruitment will hire people who will fit into (and compliment) the culture of an organisation so that shared time is spent in harmony.
        So I'd say the power of graduates to choose their ideal work/career lifestyle lies in turning the t… Read moreables around - be the hunter, not the hunted. In other words, pick your employer in a way that you feel REALLY excited about what they do and then be very clear (articulate) about what you bring to the table (and make sure it's very appealing to the employer) and then confidently ask for your terms and conditions in return. Enthusiasm for what they do coupled with confidence (i.e. you know what you need in order to perform well) can be a winning formula.
      • UK Broadband
        UK Broadband
        Hi Samuel. I agree with Maja. Employer - employee is a partnership; both parties should be flexible in order to achieve success, growth, keep ahead of the competition whether this is for the organisation or on an individual basis.

    • Alexandra Dewis

      Interesting to read about the situation for graduates across the world - http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/interactive/2012/jul/04/international-graduates-employment-futures-interactive
      • Graduates around the world tell their stories - interactive
        Graduates around the world tell their stories - interactive

        International graduates share their experiences of jobhunting and discuss how they see their future career prospects, alongside data showing how employment compares in different countries - from Macedonia with a graduate unemployment rate of 67% to the Netherlands, where only 4.4% of recent graduates are unemployed

      • Alexandra Dewis Alexandra Dewis commented on
        Rebecca Fay

        Rebecca Fay in Advice

        Adding to the blossoming topic of Big Questions.....how important has networking been in your career so far? I'm not just talking about knowing the 'right' person and getting a job (far less common nowadays than it used to be).....I'm thinking about discussing options with people, getting advice, being inspired.....what do you all think?
        Show previous 6 comments
        • Alexandra Dewis
          Alexandra Dewis
          I think it has been important (especially at the very start of my career) but mainly as a tool for learning about new things and expanding my knowledge of the industry.
        • Debbie Laws
          Debbie Laws
          Networking is a great way to find someone that you connect with and you can trust. For me, networking allowed me to meet someone who is now my mentor. We discuss different things but mainly around where I want to take my career and how I can use my strengths to further my career.

          Networking is also a great way to learn about different areas in a company!
        • Helen Martin
          Helen Martin
          I used to hate the word 'networking' until I realised it is something I do informally most days! I love talking to people and finding out what they do and why they decided to do something in a certain way/ take a certain decision - quite often from this, I will then meet another person through that person, who can help/advise me in a different way. Having had a major career change mid life - my network of friends/ family/ contacts really helped support me through that decision making time.... my… Read more network means I'm not alone out there!
        • Gemma Draycott
          Gemma Draycott
          One of the aspects of my role which I really enjoy, is Networking. I agree with Helens point; you don’t realise that you are actually networking every day at work and in your personal life!
          I often attend seminars/jobs fair/conferences and there is always allocated time to network with others; when I first started out in my career this was always quite daunting, but after a few events it became much easier, especially when you start to realise how much information you can learn! I always believ… Read moree that knowledge = power and the more I can learn from others or from group discussions that I take part in, the better equipped I feel in life and my job. I recommend networking to everyone!
        • Ivo Vasilev
          Ivo Vasilev
          My point will come from rather entrepreneurial career path where networking is a double edged sword (it can be both good and bad, and the ratio changes within the different stages). At the beginning (idea stage) it is probably 100% positive for your work (you get lots of inspiration from people, receive feedback on your ideas, exchange perspectives, meet people, etc), in the second stage (product stage) its is rather 80% + / 20% - (you still get the benefits from the first, plus you find people … Read morethat can help you for your specific needs (design/user testing/problem solution fit, etc but the negative is the there is some opportunity cost now) in the 3rd stage (company stage) when you start hiring and the processes become more complex it is probably 50/50 (you might meet potential partners/investors/clients/talents, etc but then it becoming more strategic - you should know who attends particular event lets say, who is who, etc, or otherwise it is very serendipitous and might be less effective and on the negative side the opportunity cost becomes much bigger). Finally on the later stage when building a bigger business is probably 20% +/80% - (it is always great to catch up with people, help others and give back, though benefits of pure networking needs to be very outcome driven and strategic to be effective and the opportunity cost very high, it is somehow tiring and the invested time needs to be better allocated). Overall though, I think is a crucial skill everyone needs to develop, and people are essential factor for everyone's success (be it personal. professional, or other) though as everything it is a time investment so the better you know what you want out of it, the more effective it is!
        • Akshay Dhawale
          Akshay Dhawale
          To answer the Question:
          Indespensible. One word. Indespensible. Without network, its like engine without wheels; or wheels without the rim.
          Network is the support.
        • Michael Potts
          Michael Potts
          I totally agree Akshay - utterly invaluable. Underestimate it at your peril.
        • Maja Obucina
          Maja Obucina
          Great topic! :-) Ivo's response resonates with me the most. Although I agree with Helen and Gemma that we all do it anyway, it's part of our social nature, I'm more with Ivo on all the potential downsides of it, particularly when it comes to building and growing your business.
          I think the difficulty is in walking the thin line between giving and taking. It's only fair and right if both parties benefit from the networking efforts yet it can be REALLY tricky to walk this line and not fall of it :… Read more-) and into either "giving only" or "taking only".
          When this particular anxiety attacks me :-) I calm it by remembering something an old friend's mother told me when I was a teenager (loooong time ago! :-) "you don't have to always return the favour - you'll do favours to others and that will balance it out" (this is not the best translation but the I can do on a Friday afternoon :-)
          Also, the lines can get easily blurred when we like someone as a person - we may start feeling uneasy about "using" them for a business opportunity.
      • Alexandra Dewis Alexandra Dewis commented on
        Helen Martin

        Helen Martin in Advice

        Another Big question.....for the mentors out there...
        How did you decide on what 'career' you started out on? Did you start thinking about it when choosing what options to take at school? Did you go down the route of liking certain subjects then the job focus came next?
        Show previous 9 comments
        • Helen Martin
          Helen Martin
          For me - I remember having no idea what I wanted to do.... but I enjoyed sports and liked people. I decided to try and get a place at college to study to be a PE teacher. Once qualified my path certainly did not follow the standard PE teaching career path - as I now work for a Bank developing talent via an unusual route of sports teaching and a great set of transferable skills. The key for me was enjoyment and challenge.
        • Lucian Tarnowski
          Lucian Tarnowski
          Good question! For me I have known that I wanted to be an Entrepreneur since I was very young so I knew my choices of courses were more personal than professional. I wanted to study things that interested me. Business studies was always one of my strongest subjects but knowing that I wanted to 'do business' all my life I did not want to study it at University. I decided that Religion would be more interesting so I studied all the worlds religions, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, etc.
        • Adam Swash
          Adam Swash
          It is funny how it only in hindsight that I can see threads running through my career which certainly weren't planned. - I did a degree in Chemical Engineering as I loved science. Through university I earnt money as a market research interveiwer and fell into working for a SME developing their market research proposition - then ended up adding doing strategy as well as just finding out the problem. I think what drives me is huge curiosity, a desire to understand how things work and then to hel… Read morep others. I am lucky that WORKing for YOUth lets me do this. I would say it is great to have a good understanding of your career path from an early age but it is more important to be true to you. Keep your eyes open and grab opportunities when they arrive - I set up and ran a fringe theatre company in London for a year after a chance meeting with someone on the London Underground one evening.
        • Rebecca Fay
          Rebecca Fay
          I spent far too long thinking that there was 'a career' that I was supposed to discover and pursue - this probably comes from being at school and people asking 'what are you going to be?'. I'm sure for some people there is a clear answer to this and that makes things straightforward.....for me, I came to decide on my 'career' towards the end of university, It wasn't so much a decision of 'what do you want to be?' rather 'what drives you?', 'what is going to make you want to get out of bed...
        • George Towers
          George Towers
          Personally, my decisions have been governed by what I enjoy doing and finding opportunities to learn more. Like Adam, I have also followed my curiosity - I read history at university, then did a masters in International peace and security and ended up in a security think tank, largely because I wanted to be James Bond! When reality hit home that this was not to be, I looked to new areas with the goal of finding a job that involved international exposure and would entail learning - this...
        • Alexandra Dewis
          Alexandra Dewis
          I too studied something that I enjoyed (and that I was good at): Mathematics. I only had an idea what area I wanted to work in after I had done lots of different work experience. I think this is key - get some experience in a few different jobs to give you an idea of what you enjoy. You might be surprised at what you end up liking the most!
        • Aziz Mahdi
          Aziz Mahdi
          Looking back I made sure that I selected the subjects that I enjoyed most and characteristically these were my best subjects. I decided to study business management at university and this was the best choice as I had the optionality to select which modules to study. Throughout university I began to streamline my interests and after a few internships in the city I decided to go into banking.
          My advice:
          1) Think about which subjects you enjoy at school and university.
          2)...
        • Debbie Laws
          Debbie Laws
          For me what subjects I studied at school and university were always subjects that I enjoyed, this was because I didn’t know 'what I wanted to be when I grew up' or 'what job I wanted to do' until I had participated in lots of different types of work experience. It was my work experience in HR that made me realise that it was an area of interest.
          My advice would be:
          1) Think about areas you are interested in, whether it is children, food, finance, people or sports
          2) Narrow it...
        • Irina Elyzabeth
          Irina Elyzabeth
          I studied what I was interested in and passionate about. When I got to my final year I got involved in the university newspaper and loved it so much I decided to do further study and try to get into journalism, which I did. In short, I worked hard, took lots of work experience, sought out opportunities and really tried to figure out and use my strengths.
        • Akshay Dhawale
          Akshay Dhawale
          The most important thing I think is, putting your feet in the pond. And the earlier you do, the better. It gives you an opportunity to 'Not' Select a particular career, which you probably didn't like to work in for even 6 months. Also, if you are smart, you can figure out in your first 2 job roles (may be even collegiate level) what kinds of things interest you and are your strong points.

          For me: I will be soon pursuing Masters in Telecommunications Management. And I can say that I worked ou… Read moret my career. I did a small coursework with a voluntary teacher in Signals and systems and found out its too narrow a field and wouldn't excite me much eventually. I always wanted to be an Entrepreneur. I sold chocolates in college; kept in touch with entrepreneurial activities through BraveNewTalent and other such forums. 'Tried out' IT, for EXACTLY a Year. And now, as planed, returning to what excites me (Telecommunications) and what keeps me going (Business, Management)

          So the take away point from my story is- You need to WORK IT OUT. and that can be started in any way you want provided you start early.
        • Michael Potts
          Michael Potts
          How did you decide on what 'career' you started out on?
          I liked talking and was quite bright, so everyone I talked to said I'd do well in Law. I studied it at uni and went on to qualify. While I didn't stay in the profession, I think it was really useful in learning key skills and giving me structure following uni.

          Did you start thinking about it when choosing what options to take at school?
          Nope. My A Levels were French, Maths and Physics. Not at all good preparation for a Law degree, w… Read morehich requires a certain experience of essay writing. That said, my role now involves communicating complex ideas concisely, so the conflicting subject types have actually helped.

          Did you go down the route of liking certain subjects then the job focus came next?
          Nope. I did what I was good at but this had no bearing on my choice of degree.
      • Alexandra Dewis Alexandra Dewis commented on
        Adam Swash

        Adam Swash in Advice

        Big Question:
        People get very worried about recruiters looking at their facebook page OR more importantly their twitter account which is fully public. How much does this really go on for entry level roles & more importantly if you have to have a full online personality transplant before you apply for a job - are you really right for it?
        Show previous 6 comments
        • Helen Martin
          Helen Martin
          Great point about personality transplants - I know a number of A-level individuals that have recently put higher security on their facebook pages for exactly that reason of having potential recruiters 'check them out' - when I asked further, they said they would prefer to keep their partying to just their friends and not potential employees as they may misinterpret and get the wrong impression.
          Any other views on this? This is quite a dilemma in this social media age!

        • Adam Swash
          Adam Swash
          Just came accross this video (filmed for Brave New Talent) by Bill Boorman expert recruiter on this topic - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgDNOn-pmVs Great tips
        • George Towers
          George Towers
          I have always believed that 'being yourself' is the most sensible and honest approach to any kind of interview or meeting, and it is one of the principles that I adhere to. Being honest with yourself, and with the interviewer, about who you are and what you want is the best way to ensure that you get the job that you really want, and that fits your personality. Trying to deceive an interviewer in order to get a job is going to cause problems down the line, in my opinion. Hence, I don't think the… Read morere should be too much problem with employers looking at your social media pages, so long as they keep in mind that everyone is human and enjoys a laugh! If you really are the honest, hard working, focussed individual that you say you are in an interview, then this should not be too much of a problem...
        • Alexandra Dewis
          Alexandra Dewis
          I think in this social media age you have to be careful about what is posted in the public domain. Employers don't necessarily want to see all of your 'dirty laundry', but equally I think they wont be upset by seeing that you have a life outside the office too!
        • Charlie Elise Duff
          Charlie Elise Duff
          Some self censorship and knowing your privacy settings inside out cannot hurt. For example don't complain about work online, keep any personal dispute hidden in private messaging or keep it offline, and hide all gaming (FarmVille, anyone?) notifications from your timeline. Look busy, active and interesting if you can!
        • Mike Sowden
          Mike Sowden
          Agreeing with Alexandra - whatever gets onto social media is out there for the world to find, and there are all sorts of ways for determined people to track down everything about you.

          The ideal answer here is stop regarding public-facing social media as a private space where you can say anything, no matter how controversial and/or offensive. There's a world of difference between healthy goofing off and reckless self-sabotage, and plenty of celebs have crossed that line on Twitter over the la… Read morest year (but in a way, they have an excuse, that's kinda their job, which requires massive publicity as often as possible).

          I'm agreeing with your main point about finding the job that fits the online personality - but I'd also say, make sure your online personality is someone you can be proud of, going forward Manage it. You don't have to be uptight or lie about what you do out of hours, but you should be careful about anything, *anything* that goes on a public forum, including Facebook, Twitter, everything. Think it would ruin your chances of getting your dream job? Then don't post it online, and you never have to face that potential heartache.

          There seems to be a suggestion in some places that your online "out of hours" public-facing personality shouldn't reflect back on your "professional" one. I don't think that's true now and it's going to get even less true as time goes on, as an aspect of this work/play "blurring" that is going on with most people hacking out a living online in some way. As soon as it hits Google, it's part of your CV, officially or unofficially.

          If you want genuine privacy, be genuinely private.

          But there's a flip side, I think. If you can show you can let your hair down without doing anything that would embarrass a potential employer, it works in your favour - it shows you have an approachable side to you, that you can manage your fun-making in a smart way. And if they're employing you for a social media role, that might be exactly a skill they're looking for. Your goofing-off mad skillz might actually be an asset.
        • Michael Potts
          Michael Potts
          At Hays we tend to focus more on your Linkedin profile than Facebook, which one would expect to be more personal. Despite that I would definitely advise higher security settings - the web is a great way for people to find out about you and a well formed online profile is a very positive thing.
        • Maja Obucina
          Maja Obucina
          I share some of Mike's points, the one about privacy in particular. I think by now we all know that everytime we do anything online we are leaving an online crumbs of our identity. As incomplete as it may be. And I also share Michael's point about LinkedIn versus Facebook.

          And I could just copy & paste George's answer :-) - that is exactly how I feel about transparency, honesty and being yourself, although I'd like to take it a bit further

          I'd love a world where we don't have to live a fr… Read moreagmented life with so many different profiles (public, private, semi-professional, business like, etc) as I do wonder what that is doing to our identity? Sanity even? Splitting our personalities into so many parts - doesn't sound healthy to me.

          Also, the implied message with that attitude - of having to keep your antics locked away so you're not left out in the selection process - is that we are unable to distinguish between "the right place, the right time" for certain behaviour. As if people are not mature enough to know how to behave where.

          The other message it sends is - transparency is not good, hiding is good, showing only sides you are sure will be liked by others.

          To conclude :-) in my view, as long as Facebook behaviour - the drunken antics in particular - doesn't interfere with what one is paid to do at work, I think it's time for employers not to mind silly Facebook profiles but to actively search them for gems of genius on them, and to be thankful they are kept open to public viewing so they could discover some really cool new talent :-)
      • Alexandra Dewis Alexandra Dewis commented on
        Helen Martin

        Helen Martin in Advice

        CV writing - your first CV! For those who are just leaving school with little / no experience - this site may help. It is an American site, but it has examples of CV set ups.

        For a UK CV with more experience - my advice would never to go over 2 pages in length.
        http://jobsearch.about.com/od/sampleresume1/a/high-school-resume-examples.htm

      • Standard Chartered Bank, International Graduate, London

        September 2011 to present

      • Pyrford International, Summer Intern, London

        August 2010 to October 2010

      • Quilter, Summer Intern, Leicester

        July 2009 to July 2009

      • Mathematics, BSc (Hons) at University of York

        2011